Hot Night!

Pesaro …km – only local to Gradera

I‘ve now found the aircon. But I hadn’t found it last night, probably because I didn’t think we needed it, preferring the fresh air approach. But T had other ideas and kept closing both windows.

I opened them/ he closed them and so it went on.
I got really hot and sticky and uncomfortable … any spare nightdress I might have with me is in the ‘saved for Greece’ baggage, in the car.

So the night passed with these irritations, and much wakefulness.

I took H out at 07.00. It was a beautiful morning not too warm yet, and sunny and few people about, only about two dogs. I’m not convinced the internet is informing me correctly about the doggy beach … my suspicions are mostly founded on the absence of doggies.

A tractor was busy at the water’s edge performing balletic manoeuvres shifting unwanted slimy green seaweed into a heap. Tractors are kept busy here. The bin men were busy too, organising well-behaved as well as any wayward rubbish.

A few people of the elderly variety were wandering around in the sea… but their activity revealed it is actually very shallow for some way out. Thigh deep. One was even using crutches… probably hydrotherapy. I remember that.

Well I think H enjoyed the greater freedom afforded by a decent length earlier walk.

T was still asleep when we returned. But not for long. I scraped him out of bed and into the shower and down to brekkie.

Another coffee machine to argue with. He decided to make his own drink. Mine was quite tasty and after pressing a couple of buttons it filled the mug, leaving a little space at the top for milk. T made the mistake of trying out different choices and arrived at the table with something resembling a swamp.

Buffet breakfasts tend to defeat him and the one here is magnificent. You can choose sweet or savoury or continental … there is cereal, nuts, all sorts of crackers and wafers and the most amazing heap of fresh fruit – for example, nectarines in a tumbling pile. HOWEVER, this hotel used to offer the best, least refined, brown bread ever. And it was nowhere to be seen. Provably a covid casualty as you handled the bread to slice it. But their prunes are second to none.

I collected a plate of goodies – cheese, cold meat etc for T, but forgot fruit. And suggested he get his own. He returned with another plate of … cheese, meat etc.

But I can’t leave brekkie without mentioning the prunes again. Best prunes ever here. Syrupy and sweet, melt in your mouth prunes. Its strange how the prunes visually resemble the effect you are trying to achieve by eating them.

I took us out on a little car trip to a cash point. Somewhere here there is an Aldi, a Lidl and a Familia. But, if the first two are like the UK versions, they won’t sell 0beer.
We followed the cash point with a visit to Gradara Castle. This is a place of great beauty similar to the one we stayed at, near Asti, a couple of days ago . Steep cobbles are not great if you are only wearing flip flops. I had forgotten my more sensible footwear.

I had a spa swim booked for this afternoon, but there is a problem with the pool and they can’t use it. And, sadly, it is closed on a Tuesday. So no spa swim for me. We are off early on Weds morning. So I had to make do with a different pool.

This one:

No jets or bubbles in there but I could plough up and down a few lengths. Except the watch had a hissy fit and the metres were all wrong.

We picked up little H and took her with us to the ice cream parlour where they make / sell the most amazing ice cream. This was part of my cunning plan to distract T from a beer hunt. Or even create delaying tactics.

We then wandered to the real doggy beach which was not the nice long strand that we wandered this morning. The internet has correctly located the doggy beach but some of the finer details (enticements) are fanciful.

Most of the dogs were on leads which H and I agreed was rather boring as she wandered around carrying out a bit of beachcombing.

I had been a bit worried about little H as she didn’t seem her usual self but I will put it down to middle age and changes to routine. She wasn’t eating that much.

Then the penny dropped… She was eating out of an old metal bowl which I gave up using years ago because:

1. it wobbled
2. it made a horrid noise when it wobbled on a hard floor
3. She used to have to chase it across the floor because it slid and wobbled and rattled
4. she never liked eating from this wobbling, noisy bowl

Swap the bowls round so she has a rubber based one for food and metal one for water. Result – dinner all gone.

Thought For the Day